In Utah, scaled-down oil shale dreams still alive

Cratering oil prices have slowed Utah’s oil-shale business, but the nascent commercial industry is still on its feet, moving forward on projects that proponents hope someday will unlock a vast trove of hydrocarbons embedded under the Uinta Basin.

One of Utah’s four major players, Australia-based Ambre Energy, has bowed out, selling its 33,700 acres of state leases to Red Leaf Resources for $4 million.

This Utah firm is closest to becoming North America’s first commercial oil-shale producer, but this year, Red Leaf suspended work on its Seep Ridge mine and is re-engineering its retort process that separates oil from rock in an effort to reduce costs, according to remarks that executives made at the Oil Shale Symposium this week in Salt Lake City. (…)